MEXICO CARAVAN FRIENDS VISIT US

Here we are with our friends, Warner and Phoebee, whom we first met on a Mexican Caravan in 2008.  We stopped at the end of Mission Peninsula near our place, where the Peninsula meets Lake Michigan.  We are standing at the 45th Parallel--halfway between the North Pole and the Equator.

Later we took them sightseeing and went for lunch at the little fishing town of Leland.  The original downtown by the river emptying into Lake Michigan is the original Fish Town, where the salmon fishing fleet arrives with its cargo.  Above you see the very unusual fishing boats made of steel.  They have a fully enclosed deck that can be heated in the winter and that allows the crew to deploy a large fishing net from the rear doors.  I can imagine that this type of commercial fishing boat can be battened down to cope with the violent winter gales in Lake Michigan.

Our friends, were in route from the Texas Hill Country to visit relatives in Pennsylvania so they took a "little" detour to visit us in northern Michigan at Traverse Bay RV Resort, our summer home.  They traveled in their Class B RV with their cat, Greta.

This little RV is completely self contained with bathroom, shower kitchen, bed, satellite TV, refrigerator Air Conditioning and Heating, Hot and Cold water, and generates its own electricity too.  It is built for little people though.  It goes for about $110-$120K.  Here we had it taking electricity from our site so Greta could enjoy Air Conditioning without having the RV generator on all that time.

WWII USS SILVERSIDES

Our friend, MaryAnne was an officer in the US Navy stationed here in Muskegon, and she wanted us to see the great Naval Museum here and the very well preserved USS SILVERSIDES.

The USS SILVERSIDES was commissioned on December 15, 1941, eight days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The ship left for the first of her 14 war patrols on April 30, 1942.  SILVERSIDES served with the Pacific Fleet along the coast of Japan, the East China Sea and key enemy shipping routes around the Marianas, Carolinas, Bismark Archipelago, and along the Solomon Island to Guadalcanal.  SILVERSIDES sank 23 ships and damaged 14 ships. She ranks third highest among all World War II U.S. submarines in ships sunk, totaling 90,080 tons.

Above are Tom, also a military retiree, MaryAnne, and I next to the USS SILVERSIDES at the Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum.

This is the front steering cockpit.  There is a second pilot station for vertical motion, and yet a third for the rear of the ship.  In a sub you have a similar complex piloting situation as in an airplane, in that you move in 3 dimensions as well as being able to pitch (e.g nose-up, -down), yaw (nose-right, -left like a skid), and roll (clockwise, counter-clockwise) along the longitudinal axis.  On top of this complexity you do not have windows to see what you are doing, so the sub pilot is basically doing the equivalent of flying on instruments alone.

This view is from the front cockpit rearwards.  Notice the handrail on the left.

These are the front four torpedo tubes.  There are sleeping cots all around these and the stored torpedoes in the torpedo room since the sub had a crew of over 75

VISITING FRIENDS IN MUSKEGON, MI

Muskegon is the largest city of the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.   The Ottawa and Pottawatomi Indian tribes lived in the Muskegon vicinity during the 1730s and 1740s until induced by the French to move the settlement to the Traverse Bay area in 1742.  Below, Teri with our good friends, MaryAnne and Tom, who were born and raised in the area.  They were giving us a wonderful tour of Muskegon.  Behind us is Lake Michigan.

Charles H. Hackley arrived in Michigan in 1856 with seven dollars in his pocket. He made his fortune in lumber. His estate was reported to be worth more than $12 million at his death in 1905.

The Hackley House was built in the Queen Anne style

Right next door is the home of Hackley’s business partner, Thomas Hume. The Hume house below was designed for comfort and to accommodate Hume’s large family.

Both homes had extensive elaborate wood carvings.  This piece is one of a set depicting all the races in the area at the end of the 18th century.

PICKLEBALL WITH TBRVR NEIGHBORS

Playing Pickle Ball at the courts at Traverse Bay RV Resort

.  My partner for this game is Charles our across the street neighbor.

Above is Connie, Charles' wife.  We spend wonderful times with these neighbors.  Notice the woods behind Connie.  This is where a bear made his appearance two years ago while folks were playing on the court.  The bear took one look at the folks and took off as fast as it could go.  That was a happy ending for all.

On the other side of the court are chairs for those waiting to play or resting between games and behind is a very nice gazebo with tables and chairs inside where you can have refreshments or get togethers.

WUBIE

Wubie likes to help me when I'm at the computer, but then gets tired and sprawls out on the table.

Outside for his daily walk and apparently something has caught his interest.  

I was drying out my umbrella on the bed and Wubie decided it was a good place to sit.  As you can see, the umbrella (which has since been lost) has pictures of cats on it.

TRAVERSE BAY RV RESORT ICE CREAM SOCIAL

August Ice Cream Social with volunteers; Gail, Bill, Carol, and Sue dishing up Moomer's Ice cream in the Traverse Bay RV Resort Main Clubhouse dining room.

 Moomer's was rated best regional ice cream in the U.S. and it is too wonderful.  The dairy is on the West side of town and you can visit it to see the farm and dairy cows.  At the dairy, they serve their full menu of flavors and textures.  If you order a waffle cone you get the real thing, a regular size waffle wrapped as a cone and full of this delicious creamy ice cream.

Carol made 4 or so delicious toppings that were so good that when we finished our ice cream, we went back for just the toppings.